Abstract
The conclusion notes the prevalence of micro-, individual, and affective perspectives in many recent Cuban films, but argues that these composite fragments should be seen as symptom-formations—always interpretable as parts of a broader pattern that undermines divisions between private and public, individual and collective. It emphasises that these remains may themselves be tools for survival and precarious foundations for new formations. Lest the repeating island become a pathological destiny in Cuban culture, it highlights how these films make visible the contact between new and old, local and foreign, representing creativity even within constraint. Reflecting on the short-lived re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the USA, the filming of Fast & Furious in Havana, and the fate of the elusive ‘Ley de cine’ (cinema law), it notes the dual threats of entropy and dissolution faced by contemporary Cuba. Nevertheless, it shows that Cuban cinema’s creative quest for self continues.
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Notes
- 1.
All translations from Spanish are my own, except where a translated edition is available.
- 2.
For Davies, the first moment of so-called disenchantment with modern metanarratives that defines ‘postmodernity’ could be identified as the moment of the Revolution’s own distinctive break with the past (2000: 104). In so doing, she reminds us of Anthony Giddens’s point: that postmodernity was once widely accepted to mean the replacement of capitalism by socialism (1990: 47).
- 3.
Whilst recent developments in the film industry may appear to break with past models, for most who have been involved in the Grupo de trabajo and others who sympathise with their advocation of a ‘ley de cine’, the goal has been reform and diversification rather than rupture. Both ICAIC and filmmakers involved in the pro-reform project are ‘keen to stress that the dialogue should not be characterised as a confrontation’ (‘Indie Island: Cuba’s New Wave of Film-Makers Get to Work’ 2015). Whether from a cynical perspective that highlights the current stagnation or from a more positive point of view that focuses on the will to dialogue, cooperation, and coexistence, I do not foresee an apocalyptic or dramatic rupture in the near future of Cuba’s film industry.
- 4.
- 5.
This phrase refers to a revised application of the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which stopped the previous practice of automatically admitting to the USA any Cubans intercepted in international waters. Implemented in 1995 under the Clinton administration, the ‘dry foot, wet foot’ adjustment meant that only those Cubans who made it to shore would get the opportunity to stay in the USA and apply for residency. President Obama announced an immediate end to the policy on 12 January 2017.
- 6.
See, for example, coverage on designers Idania del Río and Leire Fernández and their indie boutique, Clandestina, in Havana (Hernández Tapia 2015; Morin Aguado 2016; Wetherall 2017), or of the young people behind the ‘paquete’ (Watts 2014; Helft 2015; M. L. Reyes 2016), or of the new stars of the rapidly developing tech scene (Coldwell 2016; Saizarbitoria 2016). Zaira Zarza (2017) is one of the first scholars to analyse this emergent entrepreneurial ‘class’ of mainly Havana-based Cubans, which she understands in relation to the key concepts of ‘creative industries’ and ‘cosmopolitanism’.
- 7.
Set in the early 1980s and inspired by the story of Cuban poet Delfín Prats, Lechuga’s film tells the story of an unlikely friendship that emerges when Santa, a local campesina (peasant woman), is sent to make sure that Andrés, a gay writer known to the Revolution as a ‘dissident’, does not disrupt a nearby political event or gain the attention of foreign journalists there. Despite being due to premiere in the competition programme of the 38th edition of the Havana Film Festival, Ministers took a last-minute decision to remove the film from the schedule. It has since gone on to win numerous international awards, including Audience Choice at Santo Domingo OutFest, Best Picture (Iberoamerican Competition) at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, and Best Performance for joint leads Lola Amores and Eduardo Martínez at the Miami Film Festival. Despite this international attention, it has still not appeared in Cuban cinemas and has sparked a passionate public debate about censorship and freedom of expression on the island—see the dossier compiled by Manuel Iglesias on his blog, El cine es cortar (2016), for some examples of the interventions by various prominent Cuban filmmakers and intellectuals.
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Fehimović, D. (2018). Conclusion: Shipwrecks and Seasickness. In: National Identity in 21st-Century Cuban Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93103-6_6
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